1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tooth-cleaning composition for cleaning teeth in the mouth, more precisely to such a tooth-cleaning composition capable of easily removing the staining matters such as tar of tobacco and tea incrustation that are between teeth and on their surfaces and thereby estheticizing the thus-cleaned teeth, and to a method for producing the composition.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of cleaning teeth, mainly used is a tooth-cleaning composition for brushing teeth with it. However, staining matters such as tar of tobacco and tea incrustation firmly adhere to teeth, and could not be well cleaned from them. A tooth-cleaning composition capable of easily removing the staining matters such as tar of tobacco and tea incrustation that are between teeth and on their surfaces and thereby estheticizing the thus-cleaned teeth is important and necessary for tooth estheticization.
For such a tooth-cleaning composition for removing staining matters such as tar of tobacco and tea incrustation from teeth, heretofore proposed is inorganic powder of, for example, calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, silica or alumina. However, the inorganic powder is not satisfactory in point of its hardness, and therefore takes much time and labor for satisfactorily attaining its effect of removing tar of tobacco, etc. On the other hand, using diamond powder of the maximum hardness will make it possible to relatively easily remove tar of tobacco and other staining matters from teeth. However, diamond powder is expensive and its use in ordinary tooth-cleaning compositions is problematic as being uneconomical.
On the other hand, we, the present inventors have previously proposed adding silicon nitride to polishing compositions for polishing and glazing the surfaces of various materials in dental treatment (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 155882/1999). Silicon nitride is next to diamond in hardness, and is much more inexpensive than diamond.